This disclosure relates to nanoparticles of metals, alloys, metal oxides, and multi-metallic oxides comprising oligosaccharide coatings and uses such as in molecular imaging. Typically, the nanoparticles comprise iron oxide. In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to compositions comprising iron oxide nanoparticles comprising a saccharide coating of less than 5 nm. In certain embodiments, the average core size is below 5 nm with highly uniform core size and a hydrodynamic size of not greater than 10 nm.
